Through eight innings, today's game was not particularly encouraging. Rich Harden was dominant through six, striking out ten Brewers while allowing only two hits and three walks. Corey Hart's solo homer was pretty much the only offense Milwaukee could muster, though they did tally an unearned run in the first on Ryan Braun's RBI single.
The Brewers were the beneficiaries of more questionable Chicago defense in the ninth, when Alfonso Soriano, positioned deep in left, allowed Rickie Weeks' liner to go over his head and score Chris Duffy from first. After Weeks took third on a wild pitch, he was able to score the winning run on Braun's grounder to shortstop Ryan Theriot, who made a poor throw home.
In addition to sparking the winning rally and scoring the Brewers' first run, Weeks made two excellent defensive plays. Braden Looper made his Brewers debut and, though he was a bit fuzzy around the edges, walking four, left the game after five with a 2-1 lead. Seth McClung, however, immediately handed the lead back to the Cubs, allowing a two-run homer to backup catcher Koyie Hill, in for an injured Geovany Soto.
Todd Coffey and Carlos Villanueva were solid in their respective innings of work, as was Chicago's Carlos Marmol, whom Lou Piniella smartly leveraged by calling upon him to quell a Brewers rally in the seventh inning with the heart of the order up. Any bets on how many more blown saves (though today's wasn't solely his fault) it takes befores Kevin Gregg loses his job to Marmol?